On a hot June day, I was trapped on a packed shuttle bus—so packed that my nose was brushing the armpit of the man next to me. I was visiting Zion National Park in Utah. The owner of the armpit was a …
Fern Hollow collapse illustrates poor US bridge maintenance
In a scathing May report, the National Transportation Safety Board said lack of maintenance caused the January 2022 collapse of Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge, a catastrophe that injured 10 people, …
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Are Sexually Transmitted Infections Becoming More Dangerous?
Drive on highways in Philadelphia, and you’ll see typical billboards advertising products and services ranging from snack foods to health insurance, to personal injury attorneys. And then there’s a …
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Why Are Public Bathrooms Still So Rare?
When a visiting friend asked if I wanted to go on a run in Philadelphia, I did a lot of planning. Not just our route, but where to go to the bathroom. It did not go well. I took the rapid-transit …
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A Marauder in the Microbiome
Bacteria are swimming in our guts. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Probiotics, for example, help us digest food, make vitamins, and destroy rogue, possibly cancer-causing mutated cells before they …
Journalists’ Guide to Sports Media
Jane McManus has watched sports — and sports journalism — change. From her first job at the New York Daily News to now teaching the next generation of professionals (while writing a sports column at …
Allison Thomas ’78 Probes History of Virginia Island’s Black Community
When Allison Thomas ’78 introduces herself, she does so like this: “My name is Allison and I descend from enslavers dating back to Colonial Virginia.” This usually shocks people, but she doesn’t care. …
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Seeing keratoconus through a different lens
When Gabi Von Roedern was in high school, her optometrist said something wasn’t right with her eyes. Not only was her vision imperfect, but her eyes were dry and red all the time. “I was told, …
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Stanford engineers present new chip that ramps up AI computing efficiency
AI-powered edge computing is already pervasive in our lives. Devices like drones, smart wearables, and industrial IoT sensors are equipped with AI-enabled chips so that computing can occur at the …
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How Much Exercise is Too Much?
Like a lot of runners, Adam Devine uses exercise as stress relief. He got sober in 2013, and picking up running a couple of years later helped him keep at it, he said. But in 2020, Devine, a lawyer, …
Don’t post that Instagram. Send a postcard instead.
On a warm afternoon at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan this September, I found myself with two hours to spare before my flight back. It had taken me three tries to get to this national park, …
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So your hotel room is a dud. Here’s how to get your money back.
On July Fourth weekend, I hopscotched across central and Upstate New York on a road trip from New Jersey to Niagara Falls. After an overnight in Binghamton, N.Y., I moved on to Rochester, where I went …
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6 surprising things to bring on your next camping trip
I spent four months in 2017 seeing the 18 states I had never been to before. I thought I’d packed everything: I had the tent, the sleeping bag, the sleeping pad, the single-burner propane stovetop and …
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Hate Working Out? Blame Evolution
On a recent Saturday morning, my dad and I walked our dogs to the local basketball court to see what a persistent “thump-thump” noise coming from that direction was all about. Instead of basketball …
Saying Goodbye to an Endless Year with a 24-Hour Race
At about 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, when I saw snow dancing in the light of my headlamp, I started to cry. I was nine hours into my first 24-hour race. I was trying to see how many times I could run …
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Mission Impastable: An Improbable Supply Chain Success Story
Dan Pashman wanted to create his own pasta shape. After years of dreaming that he’d be the guy to add a new kind of pasta to your grocery store’s selection, and then reporting on the quest through his …
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Chain Reaction: How Midsize Businesses are Responding to Supply Chain Disruption
What started out as a rush to find toilet paper in March 2020 has turned into a full-blown supply chain crisis. Everything from lumber to kitchen appliances to cars to hotel mini-shampoo bottles is in …
In a Naked Pandemic Race, You Can Leave Your Hat On
In a lot of ways, the 5K I ran on Saturday was like any other race: The tall, skinny guys zipped out front, fast. Spectators rang cowbells. I heard the “Rocky” theme twice along the course. Except …
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A Gut Feeling
We are truly never alone, not even within our own bodies. Human beings play host to trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms that make up the human microbiome. In recent years, …
How to Connect Communities to Colorectal Cancer Screening
Penn Medicine has been on a multiyear journey to both raise the rates of screening for colorectal cancer and increase uptake of follow up care, with the goal of driving down colorectal cancer death …
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Telling Stories Through the ‘Black Shutter’
When Idris Solomon ’02 launched the “Black Shutter Podcast,” he thought he was prepared. “I bought two microphones, two microphone stands, two cables, everything,” he says. The problem? He began …
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Are Patients the Next Cyberattack Targets?
When Vice President Dick Cheney received a new defibrillator in 2007, his doctor disabled the device's wireless capabilities so that it wouldn't be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. "I worried that …
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Alternative Medicine and Clinical Laboratory Practice
The Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) market—including everything from yoga and meditation to acupuncture and naturopathy—is projected to be worth $210.12 billion by 2026, according to …
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Nowhere to Go but Up
When my mom called me last Saturday morning, she was a jangle of nerves. We were taking the train from Philadelphia to Manhattan that afternoon to tackle the New York City Marathon Training Series …
Technology Permeates the Cold Chain Warehouse – But It Has Its Limits
When DHL decided to upgrade its 434,000-square-foot cold storage facility at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the company had an eye not just on maintaining temperatures inside the facility, but …
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What Will HIPAA-Compliant Voice Assistants Mean for Providers?
HIPAA compliance is a challenge for every healthcare organization. The industry took note in April when Amazon announced new HIPAA-compliant features for its Alexa digital assistant. These features …
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Feel Like You’re Being Stalked?
Lindsey Aldrich Walsh said the onslaught started almost immediately after her husband’s obituary ran in the Houston Chronicle. Both she and her husband, Patrick Walsh, had come into their marriage …
How Brittany Ran Her ‘Marathon’ with 50,000 Extras
On the first Sunday in November two years ago, 50,643 people finished the New York City Marathon — and one actress (and her double) pretended to. …
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What We Talk About When We Talk About Running
“How’s it going out there?” my mom asked me when I called her the other night from Indianapolis, where I’d stopped on my drive out to Colorado. “Hot,” I said. “Here too. But I’m still on my way to …
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Black and Blue: Different Silicon Drops Cost of Solar
At the end of one of the hottest summers on record, as fights rage on about how to power homes, renewable solar energy continues to present as an option that does not significantly add greenhouse …
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Digital Twins Move from Manufacturing and IoT into the Back Office
An egg seller recently had a chicken/egg problem, though not which came first. The company wanted to figure out how to optimize its chickens' egg laying capacity. "The problem is the coop is covered …
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The Delicate Art of the Data Lake
Companies have become obsessed with data, and for good reason: collecting the right data, and knowing how to analyze it, can unlock potential a company never knew it had. One word executives will hear …
Why 70% of Facilities May Deploy Wearables in the Next 5 Years
If your warehouse isn't on the wearable bandwagon, expect to jump on soon: MHI expects 70% of facilities to adopt wearables in the next five years. Wearables don’t necessarily mean the latest GPS …
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Legacy Hardware Offers Hackers a Gateway Into Health IT Infrastructure
Healthcare organizations are facing a mounting security challenge: Not only is patient data a ripe target for hackers, but legacy hardware systems have such holes in their security that ERI called the …
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Putting the Pieces Together to Battle Anti-Microbial Resistance
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are not just a $2.2 billion healthcare industry problem: They’re a modern-day health crisis that has continued to build a dangerous momentum. …
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Designer Drug Chaos
When researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) set up a study in two Maryland emergency departments designed to identify overdose …
Facing the Diabetes Crisis
When David G. Marrero, PhD, talks about diabetes, he is not shy about using strong language. “Diabetes may be the most serious public health crisis of our time,” said Marrero, director of the …
Winter is Coming. Is Your Home Ready for the First Deep Freeze?
When I moved into a 1920s stand-alone shotgun style house in southern New Jersey earlier this year, I suspected it would cost a lot more to cool and heat than the rowhouse I had previously owned, …
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How to Keep Your Pets Safe During the Holidays
While the holidays can leave you with a warm, fuzzy glow, they add a lot of things to the daily mix of your life that might not be good for your pets. Whether it’s your treats that upset their …
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A Brief Halloween History of Pets in Costumes
This year for Halloween, I will be dressing up my cattle dog mix called Annie Oakley Tater Tot as Captain America. Last year, I put her in a bandana and cowboy hat and said she was her namesake. My …
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